364 WILD ANIMALS. 



of Elizabeth, according to Hollinslied, " our lande did yielde no 

 asses." Probably, however, during the reign of her successor, on 

 the renewal of the intercourse with Spain, a fresh stock 'may have 

 been imported — as that country was even then famous for its fine 

 breed of these animals — for we read that, during the reign of 

 James I., asses had become common ; and they have remained so 

 ever since. But the race has, through the various causes already 

 enumerated, gradually degenerated. 



" Why," Buffon exclaims with justice, " is there so much 

 contempt for an animal so good, so patient, so abstemious, and 

 so useful ? Can it be that men despise, even in animals, those 

 who serve them too well and at too little expense ? We confer on 

 the horse a degree of education, he is cared for, he is trained, and 

 he is exercised, whilst the ass is handed over to the mercy of the 

 lowest servant, or to the malice of children, and so far from 

 improving by education, he must always be the worse for it ; if he 

 did not possess a large supply of good qualities he would in fact lose 

 all, in consequence of the treatment which he receives. He is too 

 frequently the plaything, the butt, and the drudge of his owner, 

 who drives him, beats him, overloads him and tires him out, 

 without care and without mercy. There seems to be no attention 

 paid to the fact that the ass would be the best and most useful of 

 animals, if there had been no such animal as the horse." 



This is not only true about the French ass, but also of the 

 treatment to which the British ass is subjected. Here as else- 

 where the animals are generally owned by those members of the 

 poorer classes of the community, whose occupation necessitates 

 the employment of some beast of burden, and whose means and 

 conveniences render the keeping of a horse a matter of 

 impossibility. 



The ill-treatment these poor animals are exposed to at the 

 hands of their owners is a national disgrace. Many humane 

 men and women, such as Captain Scott, the late Lord Shaftes- 

 bury, Lady Burdett-Coutts, and others, have at various times tried 

 to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate British donkey 

 by rewarding the possessors of well-kept specimens; but the 

 animals are still, as a rule, underfed, over-burdened, over-worked 



